Four Current and Two Former Chants Headed to USATF National Championships

CONWAY -
Four current Chanticleers and a pair of CCU alums are heading to the USA Track & Field Junior and Senior National Championships this weekend. Freshmen Jessica Gelibert, Amirah Al-Bayyinah, Matthew Lights and Jordan Entwistle are all heading to Des Moines, Iowa to compete at the 2013 USATF Junior National Championships with hopes of gaining a spot on Team USA for the Pan American Junior Athletics Championship in Medellin, Columbia. Former Chants Amber Campbell and Jason Flanagan are also heading to Des Moines, Iowa for the 2013 USATF National Championship. Campbell and Flanagan are fighting for a spot on Team USA for the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia.

The top two finishers in each event in the junior competition will advance to the Pan American Championship as long as the athletes hit the world standard mark. Gelibert will be competing in both the 100 meter hurdles and the 400 meter hurdles. Gelibert has already hit the standard mark in both events and comes in as the number two seed in the 400mH with a time of 57.83.

Gelibert will compete Thursday morning at 11:30 a.m. (CST) in the 100mH first round and if she advances she will compete in the finals at 1:40 p.m. (CST) Thursday afternoon. Gelibert’s 400mH competition begins on Friday at 3 p.m. (CST) with finals scheduled for Saturday at 1:38 p.m. (CST).

Al-Bayyinah is competing in the triple jump and comes in with the fifth-best qualifying distance of 12.47 meters. She needs to finish in the top two and also hit the standard mark of 12.90 meters to advance to the Pan Am competition. Al-Bayyinah will compete on Thursday at 3 p.m. (CST).

Lights is competing in the 400 meter hurdles and has the qualifying standard for the Pan Am competition with a time of 53.26. He comes in ranked eighth and will begin competing on Friday at 3:25 p.m. (CST). The finals are scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. (CST).

Entwistle still needs the standard mark of 66.50 meters but comes into the competition ranked sixth with a distance of 65.78m. He will compete on Saturday at noon (CST).

To earn a spot on the US World Championship Team, Campbell and Flanagan will need to finish among the top-three in their event and also hit the World “A” standard.

Campbell comes in as the defending champion in the hammer throw and has already hit the “A” standard this year. She comes in ranked fourth with a qualifying distance of 72.93 meters. She will compete on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (CST).

Flanagan still needs o achieve the “A” standard mark and comes into the competition ranked 13th with a distance of 74.83 meters. He will compete on Sunday at 2 p.m. (CST).